Never turn your back on a courgette!

 Garden duties and kitchen chores continue to get in the way of the fun stuff on my days off. The chillies are coming in a steady flow at the moment. 

They’re keeping me busy — another batch of Evil Chilli Chutney will be bubbling away this evening once Tony gets home. Not a birds‑eye batch this time either. Oh no. We’re levelling up. The Carolina Reapers are joining the parade. 

The courgette plant is still doing its best to take over the world too. Here’s a hint: never turn your back on them. 

They go from gherkins to marrows in the blink of an eye.

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As if our own produce wasn’t enough to keep me occupied, a neighbour handed over a big bag of peaches. Yum. I’ve been hunting for keto‑friendly ways to use them up — just a little at a time. The rest have been diced and frozen for later. Those are the interesting chores. I’ll keep the other ones to myself. LOL.

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Yesterday I finally got Kaiy’s quilt fully loaded onto the frame and sorted out thread for the quilting, but I still haven’t settled on just the right design. I’d planned to look at that today, but there was a small… incident last night. I was happily working on my hexies and pulled my specs off to give them a polish. They broke clean in two. Right across the nose bar. No more sewing for me.

If you know me, you’ll know I wear a pair of cheap readers over my prescription lenses when I sew. It was the prescription pair that broke, the readers survived and I was still able to watch TV, but reading, sewing, driving. I couldn't even see my laptop. Basically, anything we take for granted — was out the window. Luckily Tony was able to duck away from work long enough this morning to get me to the opticians, and they managed to pop my lenses into a new frame. Phew.

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Once I could see properly again, I got on with the chores. They’re done, and now it’s finally time to sew. Out come the hexies.

This one is almost big enough to be a lap quilt. Time to straighten it a bit by adding odd hexis in here and there around the edges, then I’ll add a quick border and pop a fleecy back onto it.

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🍑 Keto Peach Cobbler  (One‑Peach, Four‑Serve Version)

Low‑carb, small‑batch.

Ingredients

Fruit layer

• 1 medium peach, diced (fresh or thawed)

• 1–2 tsp sweetener (optional, depending on peach sweetness)

• Pinch of cinnamon

• Tiny squeeze of lemon (optional)

Cobbler topping

• ¼ cup almond flour

• 1 tbsp coconut flour

• 1 tbsp butter, melted

• 1 tbsp sweetener

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 1 tbsp cream (or a splash of milk/almond milk)

• Pinch of salt

• Vanilla if you’re feeling fancy

This makes just enough topping for a single small baking dish split into four servings.

Instructions

1. Prep the fruit

• Toss the diced peach with sweetener, cinnamon, and lemon.

• Pop into a small baking dish or two ramekins.

• Microwave 30–60 seconds to soften and get the juices going (or bake for 5–10 minutes).

2. Make the topping

• Mix all topping ingredients in a small bowl.

• It should be a soft dough — add a splash more cream if too dry.

3. Assemble

• Crumble or dollop the topping over the warm peaches.

• Don’t worry about perfection — rustic is the whole point.

4. Bake

• 180°C (350°F) for 12–15 minutes, until golden and the peach juices bubble up the sides.